Career Insights: Art Museums and Academia – Turning passion projects into a profession

Wendy Gers is Professor of Art and Sustainability at Hanze University of Applied Sciences based in Groningen, the Netherlands. The professorship Art & Sustainability is a strong, collaborative research community with an ambitious research portfolio focused on materials, eco-critical art practices and ecology. A French–South African researcher and curator, Gers also serves as Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Princessehof National Museum of Ceramics. In autumn / winter 2024, she held the prestigious Theodore Randall International Chair of Art History at Alfred University in New York.

Gers has published numerous books, catalogues and essays, and curated major exhibitions in East Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. Her research focuses on sustainability, decoloniality, and curatorial studies, with a long-standing commitment to environmentally and socially engaged curatorial practices. She holds a PhD from the University of Sunderland, an MA (cum laude) in Art History, an Advanced University Diploma in Information Science, and a BA from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. She completed her postdoctoral research at the Tshwane University of Technology, South Africa.